Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-11-25
"pEsTlNYn oE The eReAr


The Este Element in Men of Eminent
Mark-Lincoln's Presentiment.
One might roughly indicate the difference
between ordinary men and men Of eminent
mark by referring to their relative possession
Of Consciousness Of destiny. So often has
sense Of being set apart and devoted to some
thing accompanied great capacity that it
would seem to be natural and legitimate
help to the carrying out of any arduous
undertaking. Schopenhauer declares that
no one can be blind to his own merit any
more than the man who is six feet high can
remain ignorant of the fact that he towers
above his fellows. He notes the pride with
which Horace, Lucretius, Ovid, Dante,
Shakespeare and Bacon have spoken of them
selves, and quotes the Engiishman who wit
tily observed that merit and modesty have
nothing in common except the initial letter.
Il have always q suspicion about modest
celebrities" he adds, that they may bs
right" Gosthe has frankly said: Only
good for nothings are modest Il begin
with this he told his mother as a small boy.
Later on IN life l shall distinguish myself in
far other ways"
The fact is that as long as he lived Goethe
DtiitNtu LII eu4 "tao 90 WiAIlil6 a.
Rousseau to trust his fortunes to the merest
processes of chance. Rousseau was to be saved
in the other world If the stone he threw hit
the tree at which it was aimed, and had
Goethe caught the plunge of the valuable
pocket knife which he tossed into the river
Lain from behind the bushes where be stood,
he might have become painter instead of q
poet. There may be divinity that shapes
the ends Of all men, but only the exceptional
individual seems at all conscious of the fact
or in the way Of turning it to practical &C
count by actually relying upon it in daily
life Thus it comes about that demonic men,
men Of a definite bent and direction which
they cannot resist, are given to trusting more
than those whose standpoint is merely per-
sonal and commonplace. Greene, the histo-
rian, tells US that Elizabeth had, as all strong
natures have, an unbounded confidence in
her luck ""Her majesty counts mnch on For.
tune" Walsingham wrote bitterly;'I wish
she would trust more in Almighty Godn
Lincoln never for an instant doubted that
he was formed for some great or miserable
end" and freely talked about the impression
| to this effect, which had been with him all bis
life, and which, after the year 1910, assumed
the character of q positive conviction. His
biographer asserts that this presentiment
was as clear and certain as any image con.
| veyed by the senses. "The star under which
| he was born was at once brilliant and malig.
nant. The horoscope was cast, fixed, ire
versible, and he had no more power to diver
it in the minutest particular than he had tt
reverse the law Of gravitation." Substitute
the word providence for fate, and many
other instances of this higher sort Of conf
dence might be adduced, showing how largt
an influence trust has had in human success
| 1t went into exile with Luther and sustainet
Carlyle in sickness and neglect. In gener
al way, it is to be doubted il any one ha!
ever reached a very eminent station in life
without something of this feeling in the att
tude which he has assumed toward his work
| Atlantic Monthly.